As He Approaches Retirement,
AMR's Crandall Is Flying High

It wasn't so long ago that Robert L. Crandall, the storied captain of aviation, was so pessimistic about his industry that he suggested his AMR Corp. might be better off without American Airlines.

Now, three years of corporate prosperity have made Mr. Crandall downright optimistic. Excess capacity is gone, fuel prices are down and bitter fare wars to win markets have been replaced by code-sharing joint ventures with one-time rivals. "We have all gotten smarter about what makes sense and what doesn't," says Mr....